Paradigm Shift

Are You Speaking Life or Death?

The tongue is a small organ in our mouths that allows us the ability to speak. It’s a powerful weapon that as human beings we may know about but don’t use properly. We can speak hope, encouragement, and life into people instead of doubt and discouragement into people’s lives.

The tongue is a small organ in our mouths that allows us the ability to speak. It’s a powerful weapon that as human beings we may know about but don’t use properly. We can speak hope, encouragement, and life into people instead of doubt and discouragement into people’s lives.

Why is it that as human beings we feel better about putting people down instead of lifting them up?

I think that it has something to do with the way we as people speak to each other. We’ve all been told by parents, teachers, and, even our friends that it’s how we speak to people that produces results.

Have we ever stopped to ask ourselves why we speak to people the way that we do? Have we ever stopped and wondered how a person’s life would have turned out if we chose to speak life into that person instead of insecurity?

The Bible is filled with Scriptures about how we should treat people, but it also focuses on the power of the tongue.

The power to lift someone up and knock them down all stems from the tongue. In the Gospels and Paul’s letters, we are told that our tongue is a weapon, but how do we employ such a weapon so that it changes people to go out and speak their opinions and be heard? As Christians, how can we use the power of our voice to affect the world for Christ?

As Christians, we can use our voices to affect positive change in the world, but we must be willing to speak out and bring life and hope to others. Nothing can change unless we use the voice that God has given us to change the world.

Throughout my own life, I’ve had no problem speaking my mind, but I have had trouble learning to control the emotion behind the words because as people; our emotions and our words can have a tremendous impact.

Our tongues can breed either life or death in a person’s life, but it depends on us as people.

Throughout my high school life and even as I continue my college education, I’ve learned that how I speak to people can really do some good. Life, Death, Anger, Frustration, and Hope are all tied to the power behind our tongues.

I’ve gathered a list of some of the lessons that I’ve learned and am still learning when it comes to the power of our tongues. I pray that something is said that encourages you to use your tongue to uplift, encourage, inspire, and impact lives for Christ.

1). Our Tongues Can Produce Life or Death

We’ve all heard the Scripture from Proverbs 18:21 that talks about how life and death are in the power of our tongue, but how do we produce life from the words we speak?

Well, for starters, we as Christians can speak life into someone by just being there for someone, by helping them through a situation. Just by helping someone through our words can bring life to someone’s life.

“A wholesome tongue is the tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” – Proverbs 15:4 (NKJV)

Also, what we watch on TV on our phones can also affect how we talk with people. As people, especially as Christians, the words that we speak can produce life if we choose to watch things that give us encouragement.

The words we speak can bring life, hope, and sometimes peace to someone, but they can also bring death, despair, and even discouragement to someone if we don’t learn to control our frustrations.

Our tongues are powerful weapons that can be used in the kingdom of God. Are we going to speak life into our situations or are we going to speak defeat in our lives?

2). Checking our Spiritual “Temperature”

The words that we speak to people can become motivated by our emotions, but have you ever taken the time to ask yourself why you suddenly feel so “fired” up about something that is minor?

Have you ever asked yourself the question: Do I respond to situations in my life that are at a “Level 2?”

Our spiritual temperature is the indicator of where we are in terms of our relationship with Christ. Do we have a spiritual “fever” that could be affecting the way we speak to people?

If we as Christians can determine our spiritual temperature, we can then determine how we are to approach people. We should approach people with a heart of love not a heart of indifference.

3). Don’t Speak Down to Yourself or Others

Not speaking down to myself is something that through reading God’s Word I’ve been able to overcome.

Why do we let either the Devil or our own insecurities get in the way of speaking life into our situations?

Ephesians 4:19 (NKJV) says, “ Let no corrupt word proceed out of mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

No evil thinking should proceed from our lips. The negative thoughts we have should be pushed to the side in favor of thinking “God says that I am more than a conqueror”.

The Word of God is the source of life and our voices direct it outwards into the world we live in. Every word we speak should be uplifting people and not tearing each other down.
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Conclusion

The problem with us as humans is that we don’t know how to control our tongues. Our tongues have the incredible power to do good if we learn to control our tongues and speak life into our situations instead of death. Likewise, what we watch on TV or our phones can influence if we are speaking life or death in someone’s life.

Joshua Reid is a twenty-year-old college sophomore and blogger. He enjoys serving others in his church community but also seeks to provide people with a Biblical perspective on situations and circumstances in their lives while providing a place for encouragement through Jesus Christ.